“Get the kid!” one shouted.

Emma pulled the boy behind her instinctively.

“Who are you people?!”

But the boy was already shaking violently.

“They found me…” he whispered.

One of the men reached for him.

Emma reacted without thinking.

She slammed her handbag into the man’s face.

“RUN!”

The boy grabbed her hand, and together they sprinted through the glowing summer street while people screamed and moved aside.

The black SUV followed slowly beside them like a predator.

Emma’s heart pounded.

“What is happening?!” she yelled.

The boy struggled to breathe as they ran.

“My mom… she worked for them…”

“What?”

“She tried to leave.”

Emma froze for half a second.

Sophia had vanished after taking a finance job overseas years ago. The police never found evidence of a crime.

But now—

nothing made sense anymore.

The boy suddenly pulled Emma into a narrow alley behind a restaurant.

Both of them crouched behind overflowing trash bins while footsteps echoed nearby.

Emma looked at him carefully now.

The shape of his eyes.

The curve of his smile.

He looked painfully familiar.

“What’s your name?” she whispered.

“…Daniel.”

“And your father?”

Daniel looked down silently.

Then finally—

“My mom said he never knew I existed.”

Emma’s chest tightened.

A horrible realization slowly formed in her mind.

Eleven years ago, before Sophia disappeared, she had secretly been in love with Emma’s fiancé.

Michael.

The man Emma eventually married.

“No…” Emma whispered.

Daniel slowly reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out a silver necklace.

Emma stared at it in horror.

It belonged to Michael.

The exact necklace Emma had given him years ago.

Her hands began shaking uncontrollably.

Before she could speak—

a voice echoed from the alley entrance.

“Emma…”

She turned.

Michael stood there.

Breathing hard.

Eyes filled with panic.

Daniel instantly hid behind Emma.

Michael looked directly at the boy… then at the pin… then back at Emma.

And quietly said the words that destroyed everything.

“He’s my son.”